


Three Idiots in Diamond City

by icarus_chained



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Clothing, Courtship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Negotiation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25858294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icarus_chained/pseuds/icarus_chained
Summary: Nora promises to bring Ellie back some nice clothes from the wasteland. She might have some ulterior motives in mind. Nothing funny, though. Just a chance to make her desires, and maybe a couple of other people's, known.
Relationships: Ellie Perkins & Female Sole Survivor, Ellie Perkins/Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine
Comments: 20
Kudos: 35





	Three Idiots in Diamond City

**Author's Note:**

> Because I'm in an odd humour, and wanted some Ellie.

It all started one day as the boss and Nora were heading out on another case. Just a small-time thing, this one, one of the ones from the files. Not like some of the things they got into these days. Nothing big or scary like the Institute or airships drifting through the sky. Just some two-timer skipping out, and a lady desperate to find him, that was all. Ellie waved the pair of them out, silently praying to herself that said two-timer wasn’t about to turn into another Darla, when Nora suddenly stuck her head back around the door.

“Hey Ellie?” she asked. All bright and casual-like. “How do you feel about clothes?”

Ellie, to her shame, just blinked at her for a bit. Sue her, huh? Sometimes a girl liked some context with her questions, you know?

“Clothes?” she tried, baffled, after a slightly-too-long pause. “You mean like …?”

Like nothing, really. She was drawing a blank, here.

Nora grinned, a little bit, and pulled herself the rest of the way back inside. Waving to Nick behind her, getting him to wait up a minute. “You know, like _clothes_ ,” she said, with that sweet-sharp smile of hers. “Salvage, I mean. Out there? You can’t tell me you haven’t heard Nick complain about my hoarding habit. I’ve been collecting some recently. I mean, I’m already picking up every other kind of junk. I was just wondering. You want first pick if I find anything good?”

Ellie opened her mouth. Aaannd then closed it again. Wasn’t sure what to say to that. Except …

“Why me?” She couldn’t quite help the odd note that snuck into the question. “I mean … Nothing wrong, or nothing. I just thought you’d go to someone like Piper first for something like that. Or that scientist lady, Curie?” And then, because that was a bit too wobbly, she straightened up some and put some tart back in her voice. “Unless you’re saying I dress bad or something?”

Nora laughed. Holding up both hands immediately. Unarmed, your honour. Honest.

“Nothing like that,” she said. “You’ve definitely got a ‘wasteland chic’ going, don’t worry there. I just thought, I mostly see you on business. Dragging your boss out into the wilds. Thought it might be nice to, you know, bring you something a bit more than that sometime. So. You like clothes?”

Ellie stared at her some more. Weirdly off-balance and not entirely sure why. But Nick was still waiting outside, and the day wasn’t getting any longer, so eventually she just shrugged. 

“Sure,” she said. “I like clothes.” She did, a bit, in a ‘girl can dream’ sort of way. Why not, huh? Although … “If you’re making Nick carry them, though, I’m gonna make sure it’s you he complains to about it, all right? Like you said, he does enough grousing at me. Deal?”

Nora’s grin slipped out into something definitely more sharp than sweet, but she grabbed Ellie’s hand for a warm, oddly gentle shake anyway.

“Deal,” she agreed. Her palm warm and rough in Ellie’s. Doing … somewhat confusing things to Ellie’s innards, for no particularly well-thought-out reason. “Not to worry. I’ll carry ‘em all myself. I’ll see you around, Ellie. I’ll bring you something good next time.”

Then she turned around and swept out the door. Jostling Nick gently on the other side, ribbing him a bit for listening in. If she hadn’t been all at sea right now, Ellie would have told her she should have seen that coming. Detectives, you know? As it was, though, all Ellie could do was stare after her. Bemused. And maybe a little alarmed.

She’d swept out so fast, a girl hadn’t even had time to ask a question.

Like, what did she mean by ‘carry them _all_ ’?

***

Two weeks later, the pair of them rolled back in. Like a rad-storm, some people might have said. Like _something_ , all right. More Nora than Nick, there. Nick was a gentle breeze by comparison. Always had been. His new partner, though, was something else.

They’d found the two-timer. Not dead, for a change. Just living the life with somebody else up in Goodneighbour, and disinclined to come back home for some clingy dame in Diamond City. Honestly, Ellie wasn’t surprised. Far from an unfamiliar story, that one. At least he hadn’t turned out to be another Darla. She didn’t have the caps right now to send somebody else to get two of them out of trouble.

Not that they hadn’t found some anyway. _Honestly_. She’d thought Nick was bad enough on his own. And he _was_ , make no mistake, but wasn’t there some old phrase about ‘double trouble’? Jeeze. Throw Mayor Hancock into the mix, and she supposed she should just be glad they came back with all their limbs and no interesting new holes anywhere.

That one was mostly Nick. _Nora_ wore _armour_.

He was looking kinda sheepish when he came in. Probably not for that. Kinda sheepish, and kinda bemused. Nora was grinning ear to ear. Banged up and battered, a laser rifle slung over one shoulder. She had a beat-up canvas suitcase in one hand, and a smile on her face that woulda done the proverbial Cheshire Cat proud.

Whatever the hell the proverbial Cheshire Cat had _been_.

“Hi Ellie!” the woman chirped. Terrifyingly cheerful. Ellie stared askance at her for a loonng second. And then she turned, and raised a pointed eyebrow at Nick. 

He held up both hands. “Don’t look at me, Ellie,” he said, leaning slightly to one side as if to divorce himself from the proceedings entirely. “She said this was lady’s business, that you’d know what it was all about. A gentleman knows when discretion is the better part of valour. I’m gonna step out for a couple of hours, leave you two to sort it out. If that’s all right with everybody?”

The last part wasn’t a question. Not really. She could see by the lights of his eyes that he was planning to hightail it regardless. It’d probably been the phrase ‘lady’s business’ that did it. He sure didn’t tend to think discretion was part of any valour any other time. 

But she nearly couldn’t blame him right now. The manic grin on Nora’s face, _she_ was thinking about hightailing it too.

She didn’t know what he was talking about, either. What Nora thought she’d know all about. It wasn’t until Nicky had made his escape and Nora plopped the suitcase down on the desk and pulled it open that she thought to connect it to the odd conversation before they’d left.

To Nora asking if Ellie liked clothes. And talking about carrying _all_ of them.

She hadn’t been kidding, Ellie thought faintly. Blinking down at the bulging canvas. She hadn’t been kidding in the slightest. There had to be at least twenty items in there. Folded up and squished in however they’d go. She was vaguely surprised it hadn’t done that old holotape gag when she opened it up, exploded clothes all over the place. That woulda been a sight. Not that this wasn’t.

She looked down at the suitcase, and then up at Nora. Couldn’t quite help the helpless little ‘why’ gesture she found herself making. Nora just beamed at her.

“Hey Ellie,” she said. All soft and warm. “Got some good stuff. Wanna play dress-up with me?”

Ellie half-laughed. A little hiccup of a thing. God, Nick sure could pick ‘em, couldn’t he?

***

She did, though. She did play dress up. There was some nice stuff in there. Nora went to all the trouble to cart it across the wasteland for her. Why not, eh? Why not.

And it was nice stuff. It was … _very_ nice stuff. In some cases. 

A little less so in others.

“Where’d you even get half this stuff?” she asked. Laying everything out around the office. There was a lot, and there was all sorts. There were suits, about three or four of em. Six dresses. A full set of radstag hide. The most … wow. The most _ridiculous_ set of yellow shorts. Couple of slacks, a few shirts. Quite a nice sleeveless sweater vest. A _bathrobe_. A nice tan trenchcoat that Nick might like, actually. Nearly new. Much less holes than his old one. She might ask about that. But, point was. There was a _lot_. When Nick said the woman was a pack brahmin, he hadn’t been kidding about that either.

Nora shrugged, rubbing one hand over the back of her neck sheepishly. “Oh, all over,” she said. Smiling slightly, more crookedly than her usual grin. She sifted through a couple of the bits and bobs. Teased fabric between her fingers. “Got some stuff from a crashed plane. Bits and pieces from abandoned houses. Bought a couple of them. Just, you know. Out and about. Around.”

There was enough of an odd note in it. A hint of the sad thing she had around the edges sometimes. Ellie looked away again. Figured she’d leave that alone.

“It sure _looks_ like it’s from all over,” she said instead. “You got enough here to outfit twelve people. What’d you want me to do with it, huh? Pick a couple pieces, like that?”

She wouldn’t mind if that was the case. Ellie could admit that to herself. Her hand inched a bit towards a couple of the dresses. And the sweater. If Nora was feeling generous like that, she most definitely would not mind. This was a lot nicer haul than she could get from most traders, and hopefully for a lot fewer caps. 

Nora stepped up beside her, though. Like, _right_ up beside her. A column of warmth along one arm. Ellie looked up at her, startled, and Nora smiled at her. A much softer sort of smile. The kind … The kind she mostly shot at _Nick_. Not Ellie. Nick.

She wasn’t blind, over here. She did see how they looked at each other. Nick too. It was … It was odd to have Nora looking at _her_ like that.

“You can have all of it, if you want,” the woman said lightly. Easily, for all the odd note somewhere under it. “I said you could have your pick. Didn’t bring it here just for show. Though … I really wouldn’t mind if you wanted to play around and try some of it on first. Or both of us. I haven’t … I haven’t had someone I could do something fun and easy like that with in a long time.” Her smile stayed bright and fixed, but her eyes were shadowed above it. At least until she seemed to shake herself. Force herself out of it. “Beside. I think Nick would get a bit weird if I started getting naked in front of him. He strikes me as old-fashioned that way.”

… Honestly, _Ellie_ was starting to feel a bit weird about Nora potentially getting naked in front of her. Ellie was starting to feel a bit weird about Nora in general. But at the same time …

She looked around. At the collection of odds and ends around her, all the way from gorgeous to ridiculous to frankly horrifying. If she thought about it wrong, if she thought about Nora wandering around picking up these bits and pieces to try to hold on to something long gone, they started looking … way too sad. Like something else, something tired and frail. And you know what? That wasn’t right. That was not what this was for.

And if all it took to take that look out of the woman’s eyes was an hour or so playing around and putting some nice and not-so-nice clothes on? 

Ellie could do that and then some.

***

“ _Why_ did you pick these up? Just … why?”

Nora grinned, swaying her yellow-clad hips, her scarred knees shining in the lamp light, the bulk of her pip-boy on her arm all the more ridiculous. The shorts did absolutely _nothing_ flattering for her. Not a single goddamn thing. And it took _work_ to look that ugly on that frame.

“Hey,” she said. “At least they’re eye-catching?”

Ellie shook her head. “They’re something all right. More eye- _sore_ than eye-catching, though.”

Nora laughed. “So … don’t go wearing them to impress raiders, then?”

***

“What do you think? This more like it?”

Nora turned in place. Struck a pose. Ellie wasn’t ashamed to admit that it _was_ more like it. A _lot_ more like it. Not that it’d be hard to be better than those yellow monstrosities, but leather … did look good on Nora. Quite … Quite good. 

“Yeah,” she breathed. Maybe a little too earnestly. “Greaser’s a good look for you. Definitely better.”

Nora smiled at her. All soft. And Ellie scrambled blindly for something else to try on.

***

“That looks good on you. Sort of … pre-war university chic. Not bad, Ellie.”

Ellie patted the vest down her front, twitched the jacket straight over it. It _wasn’t_ bad. A faded brown suit, bit patched, with a nice green vest under it. A kinda sad-looking yellow cloth flower in the front pocket. It was nice. Though it did … Now that she focused on it, it did look _kind_ of familiar …

“Hey!” she realised suddenly. “Ain’t this what the mayor wears?” The flower. It was the flower that did it. She looked at Nora in horror. “Oh, please tell me you didn’t steal it off him. If I’m wearing something of his I’m going to come out in hives.”

Nora blinked a bit. And then came over, shaking her head around a grin, to catch Ellie’s suddenly flailing hands and hold them still. “No, no,” she said, straight-faced and not laughing at all. “I promise, Ellie. There’s a few of them out there. And, besides. Even if it was, it looks one hell of a lot different on you than it does on him.” She touched Ellie’s hip lightly. Traced the shape it made. “Trust me. It looks a _lot_ different.”

Ellie … blinked at her. At the closeness of her. And did her best not to suddenly be the dark pink of one of the dresses.

***

Speaking of that dress. Ellie _liked_ that dress. She had always had a thing for pink. The dress was a nice, strong rose colour, and it honestly felt _clean_. Old, a little worn, but clean. If she threw something on over the top of it, the sweater, maybe, or her old jacket, and a scarf …

Plus, it would go well with Nick. Not that she thought about stuff like that, or anything, but it would. It looked like something dames would wear in one of those old holotapes. It looked … It looked like something he might like too.

“Yeah,” Nora murmured. Looking over at her. “Thought you might like that one. Seemed like your style. It looks good. Very … _Ellie_.”

Ellie flushed. Looked down, smoothing her hands down the front of it. She should … do something with that, she knew. Laugh that off. Make light of it. Take the dress off too, maybe. Put it away. 

She just, she didn’t want to. She really, _really_ didn’t want to.

Nora dipped her head. Her eyes crinkled, as warm and sad suddenly as Nicky’s ever were. She reached out, where she was sitting by the desk, and traced a fingertip very gently down the skirt of the dress. Not Ellie’s hip, now. Just the skirt, hanging in the air past her knee. She brushed the back of one knuckle carefully down it. 

“This one’s yours,” she said finally. Looking up again, something firm and stubborn in her eyes. “Whatever else you pick, you’re taking this. Nobody else could wear it like you.”

Ellie swallowed faintly. Blinked wetness out of her eyes. And nodded.

***

“Come on. You sure you don’t wanna try the bathrobe on? Just for fun?”

“I’m sure. I’m really, _really_ sure.”

***

And then, finally, they were down to the last two bits. As tightly packed as it was, even this suitcase couldn’t hold an infinite wardrobe. Nora pulled them out of a thin compartment in the back. She looked a little squirrelly as she did it. Like she’d been saving them on purpose. 

When she draped them over her arms, one on each, Ellie could see why.

These weren’t just dresses. They were _dresses_. Dame-type dresses. The ones all the bad girls wore, the ones who got the guys. Soft and sparkly and satin.

The one over Nora’s right arm was red. Thin straps. All sleek and sparkling. The kind of thing Magnolia used to wear, maybe still wore. And the other …

It was a softer colour. Blue. Maybe indigo. It had a wrap of fabric around the top of the chest and out across the shoulders. It looked … Ellie didn’t know. It just looked softer somehow. Not as sweet-sharp, not as shining. Better. More comfortable. Still pretty, still sparkly, but … softer.

She was touching it, she realised. Without noticing. She was running it gently through her fingers. She pulled her hand back, startled, and looked … looked at Nora.

Who was smiling at her. Strangely. So strangely. Nothing like her usual smiles at all. 

“Wouldn’t have guessed that,” she said softly. Warmly, curiously. That odd smile on her lips. “I thought you might go for the red, since you like pink so much. But I guess there’s much more to you than that. And I’m sure you look just as good in blue.”

Ellie stared at her. Her chest tight, her breath suddenly hard and sharp inside it. She wasn’t blind, over here. She hadn’t ever been blind. But she hadn’t seen this coming. 

“I thought …” Nora started carefully. _Hesitantly_. It was strange to see such a fearsome woman be so hesitant. “I thought maybe, you and me, we could wear these for Nick some time. He’s … He’s a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Don’t know if you noticed that. I thought maybe … maybe we could get together. And … give him a stronger hint?”

Ellie blinked at her. Rapidly. Not confusion, now, though she was feeling all of that. Tears. She couldn’t help them. They just trickled out.

Because she wasn’t blind. She _wasn’t_. She’d seen how Nora looked at Nick. And then, later, so slowly, how Nick looked at _Nora_. When Nora wasn’t looking. Only then. Because he was so scared, her boss. He was so slow and stupid. But Nora had been getting through to him. Slowly but surely. Ellie had seen where it was going. She wasn’t _blind_.

And she wasn’t jealous, either. Honest. She really wasn’t. Nick had been … He’d been better lately. Less fragile. Less scared. He talked about himself like a person now. Like he wasn’t just a … a holotape puppeting a machine, or whatever else he’d told himself over the years. Nora’d done that. She’d given him that. More than Ellie ever could. Ellie couldn’t be jealous in the face of that.

Or at the very least she tried her hardest not to be.

It didn’t help that Nora was, well, _Nora_ , either. It didn’t help that the woman was warm, and sad, and funny too. Or beautiful. Yeah, that didn’t help at all. What was a girl like Ellie meant to do against a person like that, huh? 

How was a girl meant to _want_ to?

And now Nora was … was what? Looking at her like she looked at Nick? Plain old Ellie. Nick’s lovelorn secretary. Ellie didn’t get it. She didn’t understand this. Please.

“It … It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Nora continued, wincing uneasily in the face of Ellie’s tears. “I know it’s a lot to ask. Both of us. I know it’s a lot. I just … I couldn’t figure out why you hadn’t told him already. Because he doesn’t know. I think it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t know. And I know Nick’s like that, I know he doesn’t like to think those things, doesn’t like to risk it, but … I couldn’t figure out why _you_ didn’t risk it. Why you … Why you let me get so far, you know?”

She winced again. Tugging both dresses in against her sides. Her chest. Hugging them protectively. Ellie struggled silently. Tried to swallow.

“I didn’t … I didn’t want to scare him,” she whispered. Worrying her fingers together. “It’s not … It’s not like you. I work here. I didn’t want to make him afraid to be here. He walks out into so many things. I wanted this place to be safe. If that meant he never … never looked … I just wanted him to be safe. As much as he can be, you know? I didn’t want to scare him.”

And then, well. Then it was too late. Then there was Nora. And Ellie could see why Nick looked at _her_ , too. She could see all the reasons. A body like Nora didn’t come along every apocalypse, after all. Ellie couldn’t blame him one bit.

“… Yeah,” Nora said softly. All hushed, all warm and sad. “Yeah, I get that. I do, Ellie. And not just … not just for Nick, either.” She smiled sadly. All sweet-sharp. “See, when I woke up, I thought this place was a nightmare. The whole thing. Just a nightmare. There’s been so little out here that seemed safe. But this place. Right here. Valentine Detective Agency. _This_ place is safe. And Ellie, that’s not all because of Nick. Not for me.”

Ellie stared at her. Trying not to feel the strange wiggle in her chest. Trying _hard_ not to let it feel like hope. 

“Yeah?” she … croaked. Probably croaked. “Wh-Why?”

Nora bit her lip. And then leaned in. Leaned over, so carefully, and pressed her forehead against Ellie’s. Just rested there a moment, while Ellie stood stock-still, and let her hands flutter between them.

“I met him because you sent me for him,” the woman whispered finally. Softly, tiredly. A little wryly. “I met him because he walked out into something bad, and you sent someone to walk him right back out of it. And maybe … maybe I’m just imagining this, maybe it’s all in my head, but this last little while … I feel like if I walked out and didn’t come back, Ellie, that maybe you’d send somebody for me too. Is that … Is that just crazy of me?”

Ellie breathed out. Unsteadily. Nora’s forehead a band of heat across hers. She hadn’t thought about this. She hadn’t seen this coming. But that part … that part was easy.

“No,” she said. “It’s not crazy. You’re both … You’re both as bad as each other. I’d send somebody after either of you. Honestly, the … the kind of things you’ve been getting into lately, I’ve been kinda thinking I’m gonna have to.”

She still didn’t know _who_ , exactly. It was gonna be the Institute. Or the Brotherhood. Someone huge like that. Someone so big to have to fight against. Ellie didn’t know who she could send to get them out of that, who she could send after them that wasn’t _them_. But she’d try. When it came to it. She’d sure as hell try.

Maybe Hancock. He was crazy enough, wasn’t he? Hancock, Piper. Those Railroad people. Somebody. There had to be somebody.

She couldn’t … She couldn’t lose them. Either of them. Not again.

Nora breathed out too. Not unsteady, hers. Closer to a sigh. She exhaled, half a laugh in the sound of it, and leaned in all the way. Tilted her head, just slightly, and pressed warm, rough lips to Ellie’s. Softly. Only softly. A graze of pressure. A taste of someone else’s air. Ellie felt her eyes flutter closed. Felt herself sag, slip forward. A lump in her throat, and a mouth full of someone else’s tears.

They were chest to chest, when she pulled back again. Her lips burning. They were wrapped around each other. A pair of dresses getting slowly crushed between them.

“Hey Ellie,” Nora said. Softly, with that Cheshire Cat grin. “Wanna get dressed up with me? Just you and me. The two best looking dames in the whole Commonwealth. And then we can go and hit Nick over the head with a clue bat. What do you say?”

Ellie laughed too. A huff of a thing, wet and disbelieving. God. Nick sure could pick ‘em, couldn’t he.

“I ain’t the best looking anything in the Commonwealth,” she said, but only a little tiredly. “Just plain old Ellie, that’s me. I don’t think you should hit him, either. That old noggin’s been knocked around more than enough. But … But okay. I could … get dressed up some more. One more time. Sure.”

Nora curled into her. Pressed a kiss to her forehead. Hugged her tight and warm.

“You ain’t plain old anything,” she said fiercely. “Nothing plain about you at all. You’re the most beautiful girl in the wasteland, Ellie, and I’m counting Magnolia in that. You’re gonna look great in blue. I promise. He won’t know what hit him at all.”

Mostly because there would be no hitting. Hopefully because of that.

***

Nick crept in about an hour later. _Crept_ was the word. A man never looked warier even in a minefield. Ellie had to laugh silently. Had to tilt her face to hide it. He’d walk into all the trouble in the world with a smile on his face, but face him with a woman and suddenly there were better parts to valour. 

It was laugh or cry, she thought. God, it was laugh or cry.

Nick saw Nora first. Well, it was hard not to. She looked _good_ in red. As good as Magnolia ever did. She stood there in the middle of the office, hip propped on his desk, and it would take a better man than Nick Valentine not to stagger to a stop in the face of her. 

Hell. It’d take a better woman than Ellie Perkins, come to that.

“… Nora?” he tried. After unswallowing his tongue. All wary and hesitant. “That’s a … That’s a right pretty look on you, doll. Ah. What’s the occasion?”

Ellie bit her lip. Mostly against tears. Nora had the same problem, looked like. Her eyes crinkled. All warm and sad. She stepped forward and touched his cheek lightly. Nick twitched his head away. More confusion than alarm. Baffled worry.

Habit. 

Nora smiled wetly. Held out a hand towards Ellie.

“No occasion, Nick,” she murmured. “Just us, that’s all. You and me. And … someone else, too. Someone who looks just as good. Wouldn’t you say?”

She tugged gently. Ellie let herself be pulled forwards. Her hand shook in Nora’s. Her knees knocked together under her pretty blue dress. 

“Hi boss,” she said, and Nick turned to look at her. Just as tired and rumpled as he’d ever been to her. Maybe a little more scuffed and dinged, after all the years. His eyes widened slowly. Tracked down, almost involuntarily, and then darted back up to her face. He looked stunned, she thought. He looked terrified.

She didn’t know if this was a good idea at all.

“Ellie,” he whispered. Like he wasn’t sure. Like he had to check. “Ellie?”

She nearly quailed. Nearly broke and ran. He looked so scared. But Nora held her tight. Hand in hand, fingers linked together. Her smile was wobbling and wet, but she held them both tight.

“What do you think, Nick?” she asked. Gently. Real gently. “You think this pair of dames look good enough for a date with a private eye? ‘Cause they’re both a little hung up on him, you see. For quite a while now. Maybe since the first time they met him.”

Nick’s petrified glance swung to her. Dazed. Disbelieving. Ellie’s heart broke. She reached out and caught his hand too. Made him look at her instead. 

“Maybe not quite that long,” she admitted. Trying to smile. “Mighta took until the Anderson case, I think? He was … He was real good with kids, see. All gentle and kind. It mighta took that long.”

Nora huffed quietly. Shrugged, sweet and sharp and wry.

“First time, for me,” she said easily. “Very first. I guess I like guys who backtalk thugs even when they’ve got no way out. The, ah. The look startled me a bit. Hadn’t been out here long enough. But first impressions count for a lot. And everything else has only grown on me since.”

Nick stared at them. Just stared. He didn’t breathe anyway, or didn’t have to, but even if he did Ellie thought he wouldn’t have. He stood there frozen. His hand curled tight and automatically in hers.

“Hey,” she said. Shaking it gently. Ignoring the weight in her stomach to try and pull him out of it. “It’s okay, Nick. Don’t panic. You don’t have to do anything about it. You don’t have to say yes. I know we … I know _I’m_ nothing special. Just plain old Ellie. Detective secretary. I know you never looked at me like that. It’s okay. You don’t gotta say yes. We won’t make it weird. I promise.”

Because it probably was her he was hung up on. Nora was _Nora_. Ellie was … a different problem.

But he shook his head. Slowly. Stumbling and instinctive. He shook his head.

“You ain’t … you ain’t plain old anything, doll,” he murmured. Shaken, but honest. A perfect echo of Nora earlier, and as earnest. Ellie caught her breath. “You never have been, and you sure as hell ain’t now. I just … I didn’t _know_ , Ellie. I didn’t know.”

Ellie laughed again, because it was that or cry, and she was _so close_ to crying. So close.

“I know,” she said. Gripping his hand. “I didn’t tell you. You were always so scared. But you … You’re better now. Since Nora helped you. And I still wouldn’t have told you, but she … she helped me too. And god, Nick, I really want to try. With you, with both of you. I wouldn’t have told you, but she told _me_ , and I just … I’d like to try. I really would.”

He blinked at them. Looked between them. A strange, petrified terror in his face. 

A hope. 

“… Both of you?” he said. Testing it. The thought of it. Waiting for them to slap it down. It was so ridiculous to him. Clearly. So far beyond the bounds of hope. But Ellie just held on. Clung to both his hand and Nora’s. And Nora just smiled at them. Sweet-sharp, full of that sad, broken thing. “You really want to do this? _Both_ of you?”

Maybe they would need the clue bat. It wasn’t _that_ hard to believe, was it?

But it was. She knew it was. He’d only recently let himself think he might be a person. 

“ _Yes_ ,” she said. About as bluntly as possible. Trying to still be gentle with it. She tugged on his hand, and he looked at her. “For years now, Nick. It’s not a new thing. I promise.”

Nora touched his cheek. A ghost of her hand against it, across the seams and the scars. She waited out the flinch and, when he stilled, cupped her palm gently across it.

“I’m scared of everything out here,” she said quietly. With warm, splintered dignity. “Every damn day. But not you. I’ve never been scared of you. And I would do … pretty much anything. To be allowed to keep you both. I’d fight the whole damn world.”

And hey. Great. Now Ellie’s heart broke for _her_ too. She curled the woman’s hand tight. Leaned in, pressed her weight along Nora’s arm. Just to remind her. Just to let her know she was there. Nora’s breath stuttered slightly. Her eyes flickered, and she leaned in too. Let her weight sag slightly into Ellie.

And Nick broke too. Tugged his hand back, pulled it free, so he could gather them both in instead. Pull them in against his chest, up into that tired old trenchcoat of his. Nora crumpled further. Ellie found herself wrapped around them both. Nora pressed between herself and Nick. Nick’s seamed old chin against her hair. She found herself all wrapped up in them. Her two broken idiots. 

And god, but it was the best place she’d ever been. The brightest and the warmest. The best.

“I’m not entirely sure what’s happening here,” Nick whispered hoarsely. “I don’t know what I’m doing. What you want, either of you. But I think … I think I’d have to be a much dumber man than I am to think about saying ‘no’. A man would have to be the world’s biggest idiot to say no to either of you. Let alone both.” 

Ellie laughed. Nora, too, chuckling weakly into Nick’s chest. Wetly. 

“Told you it’d work,” she rasped thickly. Turning her head a bit to look up at Ellie. “Two prettiest dames in the Commonwealth. Told you he wouldn’t know what hit him.”

Ellie shook her head, and squeezed them gently. “No hitting,” she reminded. “You two get banged up more than enough already. No hitting. God, I’m in love with the two biggest _idiots_ in Commonwealth. Or.” She paused, and looked up at Nick. At her boss. All worried and rumpled and sad. And _hopeful_. Now. Because of Nora and maybe, a little bit, because of her. “Or, I guess, not the biggest idiots? Just enough. Dumb enough to get hurt. But not too dumb … not to let someone else put them back together after?”

Nick grinned at her. A wry old smile. “Won’t make no promises, Ellie. But I’ll try not to be that dumb. At least not anymore. All right?”

And if Ellie’d known years ago that all she had to do to win that promise was put on a pretty dress …

Well. She probably wouldn’t have had the courage, still. But she’d have _thought_ about it.

“Hey,” she said. Warm and tired and all cried out. Wrapped up in two beautiful sets of arms. “Did you know Nora looks really good naked, boss? And in a couple of other things too, but I figure the ‘naked’ one might be relevant right now. What do you think?”

Nick choked. Just straight up choked on air. Nora quivered in their arms. Shaking with _laughter_ now. Ellie grinned at that. Ellie smiled.

“Ellie, _please_ ,” he managed. “I’m only a poor synth, over here. Try not to give me a heart-attack, okay?”

“Don’t worry,” she said. Patting him gently on the arm. “We’ll go slow, Nick. We’ll take care of your heart. And everything else too.” She shared a look with Nora. A bit more tired than the Cheshire Cat. A bit more warm and happy too. “Hey, how about this? To warm up. You want to play dress-up with us? There’s a tan trench you might like. A couple of suits and some slacks too.”

“And a bathrobe,” Nora murmured. With warm mischief and splintered dignity. “Some shorts.”

He looked so baffled when they lost it. When they felt apart giggling into his arms. But he looked so warm too. So happy and bemused and hopeful. It was almost worth it, Ellie thought. The picture he made. It was _almost_ worth the one Nora’d just planted in her head.

“No, thank you,” she whispered fervently. “If they won’t impress raiders on you, they won’t impress them on anyone else either. We’re trying _not_ to get him killed over here, aren’t we?”

Nora beamed at her. All manic joy. “You never know,” she said. “Might match his eyes.”

And if Ellie broke her own rule just to hit her, just a _little_ , well. Nobody had to know.

Nobody but the three biggest idiots in Diamond City.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, most of these are clothes our current Sole Survivor has picked up in various suitcases and dressers across the wasteland. The 'summer shorts' set are _dire_. IMO, anyway. Not quite as bad as the 'casual outfit' with the salmon pants, but definitely up there. Heh.


End file.
